QMD Certification — a Major Breakthrough in Standardizing Quality Measurement Data for all Industries Worldwide
companies in hundreds of business sectors globally will have the ability to
share electronic measurement data utilizing one simple, seamless and generic
format. Quality Management Data (QMD) certification offered remotely via the
Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) website (http://www.aiag.org) presents
gage and solution providers with official certification that their systems are
compliant to the QMD specification, a global standard for measurement data.
The QMD Certification program is on schedule to launch the first quarter of
2009.
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The QMD specification provides a legible, accurate and non-proprietary
format for the transfer of measurement data from virtually any product from
milk cartons to fuel injectors. The certification process is completed
electronically through a test harness accessed from the AIAG website. The
program will tabulate the information, send a report, and upon completion QMD
compliance will be issued to those seeking certification. By obtaining the
certification, customers (OEMs) will be provided validation that quality
measurement reporting tools are in compliance with the QMD specification,
resulting in customers receiving a quality product from QMD certified
companies.
The application was initiated to eliminate the pains of the manufacturing
industry in translating over 1,500 proprietary formats to suit limitless
customer requirements. QMD puts an end to wasted time and redundancy from
continual data re-integration for gauge and reporting solution providers and
creates zero loss of quality data.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an arm of the US
Department of Commerce, played an active role in developing the QMD
specification. “If broadly adopted, a complete, correct, and unambiguous open,
non-proprietary standard for quality measurement data can eliminate
translation and other costs related to data format incompatibilities,” said
translation costs SPC suppliers worldwide roughly
year. This estimate is for SPC software support to all industries. The
estimate does not include quality measurement data format translation costs
borne directly by OEMS and their tier suppliers, which could be substantial,”
he added. Horst continued to say, “QMD is on its way to becoming a standard
and deserves the support of OEMs and tier suppliers worldwide.”
A large supporter of QMD is Mitutoyo, the world’s largest manufacturer of
precision measuring tools and instruments.
Technology and Application Development for Mitutoyo and Co-Chair of the QMD
work group said, “(QMD will provide) cost savings for our development
initiatives and reduce integration costs for our customers. It allows us to
focus on our core competencies and not one-time integration of a myriad third
party system.” Brown added, “(QMD) is a necessary convergence for the
industry.”
Process Control (SPC), chaired the QMD validation pilots. “QMD is the first
and only standard agreed on in the SPC industry,” said Barrager. “It serves
two purposes; reducing the cost of converting data and making data more
accessible,” he added.
Other OEM and SPC software supplier companies actively involved in putting
forth the QMD effort include StatPoint, Siemens PLM Software, Infinity QS,
Minitab, QMC and ProLink. These companies have written implementations of QMD
into their software and have proven, through public interoperability
demonstrations of production and consumption of quality measurement data,
conducted at several technology shows including Quality Expo 2007 that QMD is
a success.
About AIAG
The AIAG is a globally recognized organization founded in 1982 by a group
of visionary executives from Chrysler, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors.
The membership has grown to include prominent automotive OEM and suppliers
such as Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Caterpillar Tractor, John Deere Corporation,
International Truck Corporation, Daimler, PACCAR and others. Their purpose: To
provide members an open forum to cooperate in developing and promoting
solutions that enhances the prosperity of the automotive industry.
AIAG members play a unique role in the development of new technologies and
the standards that govern their usage. Under the auspices of AIAG, volunteers
from all layers of the supply chain work together to resolve issues critical
to the automotive supply chain. For more information, please visit the
organization’s Web site at www.aiag.org.
SOURCE AIAG